Aerial tramway.



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AERIAL TRAMWAY.- APPLICATION FILED APR. 16, 1908.

914,397 Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

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914,397. Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

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- the yoke-frame CLINTON ARTHUR DUNLAVY, EDWARD G. W. FERGUSON, ANDBURCHARD THOENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS TO SAID DUNLAVY.

AERIAL TRAMWAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 9, 1909.

Application filed April 16, 1908. Serial No. 427A83.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CLINTON ARTHUR DUNLAVY and EDWARD G. W. Fnseuson,citizens of the United States, and BURCHABD THoENs, a subject of theEmperor of Germany, and all residing at New York, N. Y., have inventedcertain new and useful Imrovements in Aerial Tramways, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to that class of tramways in which carriers aresupported by elevated tracks, and consists in means whereby to cause thecontents of the carriers to be dumped at any desired points below thetracks without the necessity of shifting the dumping means by the use ofelevated structures in order to get access to the same, and in meanswhereby a succession of carriers may be successively dumped without theuse of the usual tripping towers or stations, and in certain details ofconstruction fully set forth hereinafter and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation in part section showing part of a track and acarrier and adjustable stop embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is anenlarged sectional view illustrating one means whereby the stop may beclamped adjustably to the track; Fig. 8' is a transverse section on theline 3-3 Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan illustrating onefeature of our invention; Fig. 5 shows a different form of devices forshifting the retaining and releasing devices.

The main supporting track A is of any suitable character, a cable beingshown, which cable may be supported by towers or in any of the wayscommon in this class of apparatus, and upon this cable travel thegrooved wheels 1, 1 of the carriage 2 of the carrier B, the latter beingprovided with a suitable receptacle 3 which may have a dumping bottom,or, as shown, may be supported by trunnions 4, turning in bearings of 5,the trunnions being eccentric so that the load tends to turn thereceptacle to dump its contents.

Any suitable retaining and unlocking devices or appliances may beemployed. As shown the receptacle 3 is provided at one or both sideswith a flange 6 having notches into which, when the receptacle is in itslowered position, extend bolts 7 upon slides 8 sliding vertically uponthe side bars of the frame, and these bolts are normally carried towardthe flanges by the action of a spring 28 which tends to lift a suitablyguided bar 9 having a pin 10 entering notches in two levers 12, 12,pivoted to the frame, the outer ends being connected with the slides 8by connecting rods 13.

The apparatus is provided upon the track A with a suitable stop C whichmay be constructed in any suitable way so that it may be clamped to orreleased. to slide upon the track A, and the clamping devices are soconstructed that they may be operated from points below the track andcarriers, as for instance from the ground, through the medium of a cableor other suspensory D, which is pendent from the said appliances andextends downward to such an extent that an operator upon the ground, ora distance below the carriers, can by manipulating this suspensoryunlock the stop and draw it, by means of the suspensory, along the trackto any desired position, and thereafter, by releasing the pull upon thesus pensory, secure the locking of the stop in its new position upon thetrack.

Various different appliances for locking the stop may be employed but asshown the stop is in the form of a saddle having a comparatively thinbut rounded portion 14 which rests upon the track, and two side flangesor cheeks 15 which extend below the track and receive between them theclamping jaw 16. This jaw has inclined slots 00, a, through which extendthe transverse pins 17 into the cheeks 15 so that by sliding the jawlongitudinally it may be carried to or from the track, and preferably aspring is arranged so as to act upon the jaw to carry it to and clamp itfirmly against the track. As shown there is a lever 18 pivoted by a pin19 which extends between the cheeks 15, and having an arm 20 extendinginto a ver tical slot in the jaw 16, and a spring 21 tends to throw thelever in the direction of its arrow, Fig. 2, to thereby force the jawagainst the track. At the outer end of the lever 18 is an eye fromwhichis suspended the cable or other suspensory D, and it will be seen thatby pulling upon this cable the lever may be swung to carry the jaw awayfrom the track, and that the stop can then be drawn along the track toany desired position, and that upon releasing the pull upon the cablethe spring 21 will carry the l jaw firmly against the track and clampthe p it is desired to dump the load stop in its new position. Byrounding the upper face of the saddle the grooved wheels of the carriercan pass over the saddle and as the carrier thus passes the stop it mayoperate the retaining and releasing appliances through any suitableshifting means so as to dump the load. As shown the carrier is providedwith a shifter consisting of a pivoted lever 22 having at one end aroller 23 which may pass in contact with the saddle and is therebyraised, and the other end of the lever is connected by a link 2& withthe sliding bar 9 so that the lifting of the roller 23 and tilting ofthe lever 22 depresses the sliding bar and thereby elevates the bolts 7and releases the receptacle, which will then swing upon its trunnionsand dump the load. Preferably the receptacle isso overweighted that whenunloaded it will swing back to its normal vertical position and in sodoing bring the notches in the flanges 6 beneath the bolts 7, when thespring 28, operating through the intermediate devices, will carry thebolts through the notches and re-lock the receptacle in position.

It will be evident that the adjustable stop and means for shifting itfrom the ground, or from below the carriers may be used wheresuccessively at different points below the track in that class of aerialtramways where the carriersreciprocate, but a stop which will cause thedumping of the loads of successive carriers and permit them to pass insuccession is of special advantage in connection with that class ofaerial tramways where the carriers travel in one direction upon thetrack A and are carried back upon a companion track and operated underthe traveling action of a continuous driving cable E clamped to eachcarrier. Such an arrangement is indicated in Fig. 4 which shows-thecompanion tracks A, A and the carriers B, B thereon, and the stop Cwhich may be adjusted as described, or otherwise, to any desired pointand the construction of which permits each carrier to travel past thesame, dumping the contents and then moving to the shifting means X atthe end of the line and traveling back upon the companion track, thusdispensing with the necessity of the erection of tripping towers orstations heretofore used in continuous aerial tramway systems, while asuccession of carriers dump automatically at the same point.

In Fig. 5 we show a carrier adapted to turn short corners where thewheels are arranged closer together, and the shifter in this caseconsists of a lever with diverging arms each connected by a link withthe bar 9, or other movable part of the retaining and releasing means.Normally the lever 22 is in the position shown so that-a-movement ineither direction, resulting from the roller at its lower end contactingeither way with I the step, will thrust one of the links down I andrelease the receptacle. I Without limiting ourselves to the preciseconstruction and arrangement of parts shown,

we claim as our invention:

1. The combination with the elevated track of'a tramway, of a stopmovable on said track, means for locking the stop to and unlocking itfrom the said track and means pendent from the locking means for unlocking and also shifting the stopon the track, from positions below thetrack.

2. The combination with the elevated track and traveling carrier ofan'aerial tramway, of a stop movable on said track, means for lockingthe stop to and unlocking it from said track, means whereby the carrieris dumped by the action of said stop, and means pendent from the lockingmeans for unlocking and also for shifting the stop on the track frompositions below the carrier.

3. The combination with the elevated track of an aerial tramway, of astop movable thereon, a clamping device carried by the stop, a springfor forcing the clamping device against the track, and means forshifting the clamping device and for adjusting the stop including apendent cable.

4. The-combination with the track of an elevated tramway, of a stopconsisting ofa saddle riding on the track, a clamping jaw movablebetween the sides of thesaddle to and from the track, and means forshifting the said jaw including a pendent cable con nected to actuatethe jaw from a position below the track.

5. The combination with a stop consisting of a saddle riding on thetrack and a clamping jaw movable between the cheeks of the saddle, of alever pivoted to the saddle and engaging the said jaw, a spring formoving the lever in one direction, and a pendent cable for moving thelever in the opposite direction.

6. The combination in an aerial tramway of an elevated track having acarriage 2 and grooved wheels 1 and rece tacle dumping means andretaining and re easing devices, I of a lever ivoted to the carriagesubstantially paral el with and in immediate proximity to the track andadapted to be swung away from the track by a stop u on the i track, andconnections between t e said I lever and the retaining and releasingdevices. 7. The combination in an aerial tramway having forward andreturn tracks and series of carriers adapted to travel thereon in onedirection, of a stop constructed to permit the carriers to passsuccessively over the same, dumping receptacles upon the carriers, andretaining and releasing devices constructed to be operated by the saidstop to in the dump successive carriers travelin same direction for thepurpose set forth. 8. The'combination in an aerial tramway of forwardand return tracks, series of dumpof a frame, grooved wheels, a recetacle caring carriers, a driving cable for carriers runried by theframe, retaining an releasing ning continuously in one direction, a stopmeans controlling the discharge from the resupported on the track andconstructed to ceptacle, a shifter on the carrier, and links 20 permitthe carriers to pass the same, and rearranged one to act to operate saidmeans to leasing devices on the carriers arranged to discharge thereceptacle in traveling in one contact with the stop and affect thedumpdirection and the other when traveling in ing of the contents of thesuccessive carriers. the opposite direction.

9. The combination in an aerial carrier of In testimony whereof we affixour signa- 5 10 a frame, grooved Wheels, a rece tacle carried tures inpresence of two Witnesses.

by the frame, retaining and re easing means ARTHUR DUNLAVY.

controlling the discharge from the receptacle, EDWARD G. W. FERGUSON.

and a shifter on the carrier and connections BURCHARD THOENS. whereby tooperate the retaining and re- Witnesses:

15 leasing means therefrom. IsABEL LEVINSON,

10. The combination in an aerial carrier S. MULLANE.

